Nuisance calls – the bane of many people’s lives!
Thankfully the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) can fine and prosecute organisations for failing to adhere to regulations for marketing calls, and in this example, Check Point Claims Limited has been fined a huge £250,000.00 for failing to comply with the law.
They reportedly made a staggering 17.5 MILLION nuisance calls asking if people had suffered hearing loss at work.
The nuisance callers breached the law when they used an automated calling system to send unsolicited marketing calls to millions of numbers. Such activity is not allowed unless the call recipient has expressed their consent, or perhaps subscribed to receive such calls.
Numerous complaints were made, and when the ICO initially investigated the complaints, Check Point Claims Limited alleged that they had purchased “opt-on” data, but they were unable to substantiate this with any evidence at all. In total they made 17,565,690 calls between March and September last year to 6,388,122 “subscribers.”
Many of the complaints noted that the calls were received at inconvenient times as well, like evenings and weekends, and many had never worked in a noisy environment as the recorded message suggested. You have to remember that calls are made to elderly and vulnerable people which can put them at risk of falls, and can really be a cause of concern for them as well.
The result is a huge fine of £250,000.00 as a result of their activities.
An ongoing problem
Nuisance calls remain an ongoing problem and many who receive them will not go through formal complaints procedures; although you may not even get the chance. Whenever I receive an unsolicited call, claiming I am due compensation or similar, I demand to speak to management for them being in breach of regulations, and they usually just hang up when they know they’ve been caught out!
It’s frustrating for us genuine lawyers who do actually help people with claims because we have never made marketing calls like this, and all our clients come to us direct – but it puts people off and tarnishes the industry’s reputation which is incredibly annoying for upstanding firms like us. We have never bought data or engaged in referral activity, nor have we ever made automated, nuisance, or even cold calls.
If people want help they’ll seek it out – these organisations flouting the law have a negative impact on the industry and people’s perceptions, which doesn’t fill people with confidence at all.
I’ve worked in law for years and even I get calls telling me I am owed compensation, and even our Principal Solicitor has been told he is due work accident compensation; even though he owns the business where he works!